Riga Court Sentences Five to Death; Murdered Jews Under Nazis

Death sentences were imposed by a Riga court yesterday on five Latvians, three of them in absentia, who were found guilty of the murder of thousands of Jews and others under Nazi occupation during the Second World War, it was reported here today from the Latvian capital. The victims were from the town of Rezneke in eastern Latvia.

Those given the death sentence in absentia were Boleslav Maikovski, now living in Mineola, L.I.; Harald Puntilis of Willowdale, Ont., Canada; and Albert Eichelis of Karlsruhe, West Germany. Of the three defendants present at the trial, two were given the death penalty and the third was sentenced to 15 years in prison. All the accused were former Latvian police officials.

During the trial, the prosecution had charged that Eichelis, the former police chief in Rezneke, had ordered that “not one Jew must remain alive in Rezneke” and that all six defendants took the initiative in carrying out that policy and also appropriated the possessions of the victims.